In the Eye of a Hurricane
by Tobi'sgoodgirllovesSasuSaku
Summary: There is quiet, for just a moment. And then, a yellow sky.


**A/N: This was how I originally thought it would play out; oops.**

* * *

Just like the last time the Galra had invaded the castle, everything happened too quickly for any of them to process. One moment they were floating through a peaceful star system known as Ardraxyl; the next, a massive wormhole shooting purple lightning engulfed them, dragging them into the middle of a Galra fleet juiced up on quintessence, led by Haggar herself. Being forcibly dragged through a wormhole left the castle defenseless, and they could only watch with mounting trepidation as the ships approached them.

It had been Allura who shouted the orders next; they were to scatter throughout the castle, turning on any defensive systems they came across. While this would separate them from each other, it also had the added benefit of forcing the troops to separate. If they had the fortune to come across each other, she added, they were to stick together no matter what. With that said, they broke, each one taking a separate hallway and running wherever their guts told them to go.

At first, Lance had to admit that it was going surprisingly well. Naturally, it had been both mentally and physically taxing to fend off waves after waves of Galra sentries by himself while worrying about how his fellow teammates fared; but, when he had run into Keith, things seemed to fall into place. Similar to the battle on Balmera, they annihilated anything that crossed their paths, steadily making progress together as opposed to the standstill Lance had been previously. When Hunk had come on over the coms saying that they had found Pidge and were finding similar success, Lance had actually let out a laugh and allowed a wide grin to grace his features; when he glanced Keith, he saw some of the tension had left the Red Paladin's shoulders and a small smile of his own played at his lips.

Looking back, when Shiro had come on sounding pained and breathless, Lance should have immediately assumed the worst.

"Don't tell me you're winded after just that," Lance teased, hefting his bayard to rest against his shoulder. "Thought you were in better shape Shiro."

A laugh that easily could have been mistaken for a harsh cough was his only response to the jibe. Lance felt the uneasiness begin to spread in his body; its icy tendrils wrapping around his heart and dragging it into its stomach when Keith began to speak.

"Shiro, what's going on? Are you alright?"

The poorly concealed worry in Keith's voice was accentuated by Shiro's heavy panting that echoed within their helmets. His grip on his bayard tightened to the point that it began to tremble as he shouted into the coms, as if he hoped the louder he was the more likely he was to receive a response.

"Shiro…are you there? Shiro? _Shiro!_ "

" _Keith…if I don't make it out of here…I want you to lead Voltron."_

That was the last any of the Paladins heard from Shiro before the coms cut out, a deafening silence replacing the sounds of Shiro's pained exertion.

During their time traveling throughout the universe, Lance and the others had grown familiar with Keith's battle rage. Any time after Voltron summoned its sword, or when they would return from being swarmed by Galra, each of them would breathe a sigh of relief that they wouldn't grow painfully intimate with Keith's fury. But now as he watched the tremor in Keith's hands escalating up his arms, Lance wished there had been a drill on what to do when Keith loses control.

"Keith…" Lance asked, voice betraying how insecure he was in the next course of action. But the one thing he knew for certain was that they couldn't stay there with Keith staring off into space, looking for all the universe like someone had ripped his consciousness out and left the empty husk behind. The lack of response was unnerving, but there wasn't any time for such luxuries as being frozen in fear; with a deep breath, Lance walked towards Keith, reaching his hand out to grasp his shoulder.

"Come on man, we need to find everyone els-"

As soon as his fingertips brushed against Keith, it was as if a switch had been flipped inside the Red Paladin. One moment he was approaching his friend with the same trepidation he'd give a wounded wild animal. The next he found himself slammed into a wall, breathless and mind reeling as only the sounds of Keith's pounding footsteps growing distant and the ferocity that had been directed towards him registered.

"Quiznak," Lance groaned, pushing himself off the wall, "Guys, we got a problem."

" _What was your first clue Lance,"_ Pidge's biting voice came through loud and clear; Lance fought the urge to roll his eyes as he ran after Keith.

"No, I mean in addition to the Shiro one; Keith just ran off."

" _What do you mean ran off,"_ Hunk asked frantically, _"You two were together, right? How did you lose him?"_

"I didn't lose him," Lance replied, the ache in his lungs from talking while running making itself well known, "I'm chasing him right now. I tried to get him to respond and he just, I don't know, flipped!"

" _Well stun him with your gun or something,"_ Pidge shot back, _"We don't have time for this!"_

"Easy for you to say! You're not trying to keep up with him!"

" _What messed you up so bad that you can't shoot straight down a hallway?"_

"Nothing, just- _God_ , why is he so fast?!" Lance groaned, desperately pushing himself to try and keep the distance between him and Keith to a minimum. But Keith's berserker mode always gave him extra strength, making him soar beyond what really should have been his physical limits. While that was usually a blessing battle, when you're tasked with being the one to stop him from most likely killing himself, it certainly began to seem like a curse instead.

Lance stopped, raising his gun and taking aim; Pidge was right, even with Keith running this was his best chance at stopping him. He took a deep breath, sights focusing on Keith's helmet; if he hit, the force should be enough to at least slow Keith down. He exhaled he squeezed the trigger; the bolt of light blue struck just above the edge of the helmet, and Keith went down with only a short cry. Lance shuddered, feeling disgusted as he ran over to Keith, kneeling beside him; he pressed two fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse with the fear that he had done more harm than good. He sighed, some of the fear abated by the harsh steady thrum beneath his fingertips.

"I got him guys; I'll see you soon."

* * *

Lance had been the one waiting for him when Keith emerged. Normally everyone would be there, watching the pod with bated breath; but with Shiro's abduction, all hands were on deck to create a flawless plan to rescue Shiro without engaging Zarkon or Haggar.

The hiss of the pod opening snapped Lance out of his reverie, as Keith stumbled out, Lance was immediately by his side.

"Don't worry buddy, I gotcha," Lance muttered, sliding an arm around his waist for support. Keith growled in response, shoving Lance away and stalking towards his clothes folded in the corner, gait unsteady. Lance watched him, taken aback only for a moment before a mixture of anger and concern took over and had him sliding into step beside him.

"Dude, you need to take it easy," Lance said, grasping his shoulder, "I thought I might've killed you!"

The glare Keith sent him over his shoulder had Lance retracting quickly. He felt as if he had been hit by Blue's ice beam, breath caught in his throat. The amount of hatred and anger he saw directed right at him those eyes…Lance had to stop himself from making sure he hadn't somehow turned into Zarkon since the last time he saw himself in the mirror.

"We don't have time to take it easy," Keith spat with more incredulous disgust than Lance had thought was humanly possible as he dressed. Before he could even think of a retort, Keith was out the door, no doubt headed to the control room. Lance stared at the door in stunned silence for a few ticks before his mind went in autopilot, directing his body to follow after him through the doors. He blinked as the shouting match in the control room jolted him back into active consciousness; he wasn't quite sure how he got to the control room.

"We can't go in there yet Keith; we don't have a plan!"

"We went after Allura without a solid plan."

"That was different," Pidge gestured to the control room, "Without Allura the Castle wouldn't have had any power; we would've died!"

"We almost died anyway just to get her!"

"Because we didn't have a well-thought out plan," Pidge shouted in exasperation, throwing her hands into the air, "We got lucky last time; if we go in there again like that, we'll most likely end up dead if we're _lucky_."

"Pidge is right Keith," Allura began, stepping in between the two paladins. Despite still being dressed for battle, she still displayed the diplomacy so famous among the universe. "Without the Black Lion's pilot, we don't have a definite leader to form Voltorn. We need to use the utmost care when-"

"I'll pilot the Black Lion," Keith interrupted, stance challenging Allura to contradict him. She blinked, clearly taken by surprise by his statement.

"You'll…what?"

"I'll pilot the Black Lion," Keith reiterated, frustration at having to repeat himself clearly lacing his voice. "You all heard Shiro: he wanted me to lead Voltron."

"Uh, he actually said that if he didn't make it out, he wanted you to lead Voltron," Hunk said, stepping forward a bit. As soon as Keith turned his glare on him however, Hunk cowered back to his original spot. "I mean, but yeah I guess since Shiro hasn't escaped Haggar yet and isn't physically here that fulfills his requirements, so I guess that means Keith is technically the leader."

"Technicalities aside," Allura said, drawing herself to her full height, "Shiro is not dead, so Keith will not be piloting the Black Lion."

"So Shiro can pilot the Black Lion while its original paladin is out conquering the universe and able to have it reject Shiro, but when command has been given to me we suddenly care that the Black Paladin is still alive."

"You know it's more complicated than that," Allura responded, "You are best suited to piloting the Red Lion; no one else here has your instincts or connections to it like you. The Black Lion requires a Paladin who is a natural born leader; a strategist who is able to analyze every situation and not let their emotions take control."

"So then who do _you_ suggest to lead Voltron?"

Allura flinched slightly at the sharp tone, though held Keith's gaze. "Until the Black Lion states otherwise, I will be the temporary Black Lion pilot."

Keith barked out a laugh at her response, a sound so harsh and cold that everyone felt the temperature in the room drop. "Piloting a lion isn't the same as piloting a castle princess. There aren't particle barriers or Voltron to save you when the chips are down. What makes you think you could even begin to be successful in battle?

"You seem to forget that I am also a trained warrior as well," Allura growled out, fists clenched at her sides. Her control on her temper was visibly slipping, all attempts at diplomacy slowly crumbling apart. "With the Black Lion's help I will be successful!"

"And what makes you think we'd follow you without question the same we'd follow Shiro?"

"What makes you think we'd follow some Galra half-breed like you," Allura shouted, fist slamming down on a control panel. She immediately raised her hands to her mouth as she saw Keith's eyes widen; the room seemed to echo with her statement.

"Keith…" She murmured, stepping forward as she reached out towards him, "Keith I'm…I didn't-"

Her fingertips brushing his jacket was enough to snap him out of shock; he jerked away from her, immediately turning his back on her.

"Sure you didn't," Keith muttered, eyes downcast. He shoved his hands into his pockets, heading towards he door to the control room. He bumped shoulders with Lance, jostling him out of the paralysis that the entire scene had put him into. As the door closed behind him, Coran let out a large sigh as he surveyed the room.

"Well that could've gone a bit better."

* * *

Lance yawned, bending backwards as he pressed his hands into the middle of his spine. They had come up with a few reasonable plans, a couple of far-fetched ones. The only thing stopping them from immediately implementing a course of action was the lack of input from the Red Paladin and, more importantly, his promise that he wouldn't go off on his own in a repeat performance from Allura's rescue mission. So it had been decided that Lance, the only one who wouldn't cower and hadn't extensively angered Keith that day, was to venture off into the Castle and bring him back to discuss options. Which was how Lance found himself standing outside the training room's doors, flinching slightly as a dismembered gladiator was flung against the doors.

Guilt washed over him when he realized that he had unconsciously reached for where his bayard would have been. Despite this realization, Lance squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and entered the training room.

As he surveyed the wreckage Lance's first thought was that either the castle couldn't have the gladiators disappear at the moment, or Keith had specifically told it to keep the defeated gladiators there. As a head rolled towards him, Lance wasn't sure if he was comforted or disturbed by the fact that it was only gladiators being treated this way. It was comforting, he thought as a he spotted a few torn off limbs sparking pitifully in a pile, because it wasn't anything living. However, it was also disturbing, he thought as he stared at a torso laying in a pool of oil, because of the realization that Keith was _capable_ of causing this level of destruction.

The sound of swords clashing brought Lance's attention to the object of his search. Standing in the center of the room, surrounded by three-no wait, now two considering that one was just decapitated-gladiators was Keith. Even from his distance Lance could see the sweat pouring down his face, causing the already form fitting black shirt to stick to every curve and crevice of his body. His movements were sloppy, though whether it was a sign of his blind rage or exhaustion Lance couldn't tell. If this had been an actual training session, he was sure that Shiro and Allura would have critiques on Keith's form. But, Lance thought as he watched Keith duck under both gladiators charging at him, knocking one off their feet and cutting the leg of the other, form didn't matter much in the heat of battle; survival instincts did. Though as he watched Keith climb atop the gladiator he had knocked off balance and repeatedly stab his sword into its chest, he doubted survival instincts were what was driving Keith at the moment.

"I think it's dead buddy," Lance called out, strolling deeper into the room as casually as one can be amidst mechanical carnage. Keith's head jerked upwards at his voice, chest heaving with deep gulps of air.

"What are you doing here," He growled, eyes narrowing once they recognized Lance. "Shouldn't you be working on plans with the new Black Paladin?"

Lance blinked, cocking his head to the side. "New Black Paladin?"

" _Allura_ you idiot."

"Ah," Lance nodded, crouching down net to the fallen body of the gladiator Keith currently straddled. He noticed how Keith's body had gotten impossibly tense as he got closer, similar to a wounded wild animal boxed into a corner. He'd have to be careful, otherwise he knew he'd get more than just bitten and scratched if he screwed up. "Well, we've come up with a few ideas, some more plausible than others."

"Then why haven't we suited up and left yet," Keith snapped, violently yanking his sword out of the gladiator. Splashes of oil smeared across his face at the movement, too eerily similar to how blood would splatter.

This was the part Lance knew would be the hardest. "Well, we want to smooth out a few wrinkles…."

"Such as?"

Time to take the plunge. "Such as making sure you actually stick to the plan."

Lance wasn't sure what he was expecting after that; being punched in the face was certainly a thought, followed closely by the morbid thought that he'd be run through by his bayard. But what he never imagined was the look of shock, betrayal, and absolute _hurt_ that he saw in Keith's wide eyed gaze. As soon as he identified every emotion though Keith's eyes had narrowed to slits filled with a guarded anger.

"You think I'll screw this up?"

"We just want to make sure it goes off without a hitch," Lance responded, "After last time, ya know with the whole 'soloing Zarkon' thing, we just want-"

"What? For me to just ignore any better opportunities?"

"Well, yeah," Lance conceded, shrugging his shoulders. "Last time you almost got yourself killed!"

"And I'd die if it meant getting Shiro back!"

It was as if the words were a sack of ricks that Lance had to brace for the impact of. As he stared in stunned silence, Keith continued on with his line of thought.

"Back then I was willing to die to save the universe. I only wanted to live because I didn't want him to hurt Red, didn't want him to move on from me to anyone else! If him striking me down meant someone else could've taken his head off, then I would've gladly just sat there and _waited_."

"Keith…" Lance noticed how tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, yet he still continued on.

"And now, faced with the thought of losing him," Keith muttered, voice cracking with emotion, "I'd rather die to save him than live without him."

In one tick, the two of them were staring at each other with wide eyes swimming with various emotions. In the next Keith found himself being pulled into Lance's tight embrace. He began struggling, thrashing in Lance's arms furiously; yet Lance's grip was like a vice, refusing to let him go.

"You…" Lance choked out; Keith was suddenly aware of a warm sensation on the top of his head, "You incredible, absolute _jerk_. Y-You don't get to say stuff like that, acting like some big damn hero."

Keith felt the telltale burning and stinging of tears preparing to fall. "This isn't about heroics idiot," Keith sniffled, "I can't live without him. N-Not again."

Lance bit out a bitter laugh through his tears. "I know, I know," He mumbled, fingers playing with the ends of Keith's hair. "But you can't just throw your life away anymore Keith. We're a team, a _family_. If you died, I…quiznak, Keith, I don't know, I'd probably follow close behind like I always seem to do."

That confession, of someone else wanting to follow him into the unknown, was what caused the floodgates inside Keith to open. He clutched at the front of Lance's shirt, helpless to stop the tears from falling down his face. He was vaguely aware of Lance rubbing small circles on the small of his back, and of the soothing nonsensical gibberish he was speaking; he couldn't tell if it was English or Spanish, only that when paired with his heart beat it had a calming effect on his frayed nerves. Slowly the river of tears became a trickle, and sobs were merely shadows of their former selves. When finally, the grief had been washed away to a familiar apathy only found after disasters, Keith allowed himself to push away from Lance's chest in order to look up at him.

Even with his dark skin tone, Lance's face still held a splotchy look that could only be achieved by crying. His eyes were so strikingly blue against the red of his sclera that Keith couldn't help but wonder if they had always been that way. Lance's lips quirked upwards in a small smile, chest rumbling with a small laugh that could easily have been mistaken for clearing his voice.

"You look like something the lion dragged in," Lance commented, pushing strands of black hair that were stuck to ruddy cheeks behind ears. Keith rolled his eyes; leave it to Lance to ruin a perfectly good moment.

"Not like you look any better," He shot back, lips lifted into a small smirk; a sign that his comment contained none of the venom from earlier. Still Lance acted as if it hurt, hand flying to his forehead.

"You wound me," He sighed, eyelashes fluttering, "And here I thought that we were having a bonding moment."

Keith snort, the dramatics only adding fuel to his instigator side. "We had one already; you just keep denying it."

"Clearly we are at an impasse of wits," Lance conceded, "The only way this can be resolved is if we present our cases to the non-partisan judges in the control room."

At the mention of the others Keith froze, the icy feeling of fear spreading through his veins. He had said such cruel things to Allura, had acted so harshly…how could he face them after that?

Lance noticed the fear and tension returning to Keith's body. "Hey," He muttered, drawing Keith's attention back to him, "I've seen people forgive each other for having said things _much_ harsher than what happened back there. I promise you that if you just apologize, everything will be forgiven and we can focus on getting Shiro back."

"And if they don't?"

"Then they're going to have to deal with me, your personal guard dog." Lance said proudly, jerking his thumb at himself. "No one's allowed to make you feel like quiznak unless it's me."

"Pretty sure you're still using that wrong."

"Probably," Lance shrugged, pushing himself up into a standing position and offering a hand to Keith. "Now come on, there's some really cool strategies that I think you'll like."

Keith stared at his hand for only a tick before firmly grasping it into his own. He felt a smile find its way onto his face as Lance hoisted him up off the ground. Together they headed towards the exit, the backs of their hands gently brushing against each other as they walked. When they reached the doorway though, Keith stopped; Lance paused a few steps ahead, head cocked to the side.

"What's up man?"

"I…" Keith grasped the side of his arm, eyes glancing downwards towards the floor." …Thanks Lance."

Lance blinked as a small smile graced his face. "No pro-"

"I mean it," Keith interrupted, stepping forward. He paused, resuming his staring contest with one of the many decapitated robotic heads littering the floor. "No one's really just… _listened_ before. Aside from Shiro."

"And I mean it when I say no problem." Lance replied, grabbing Keith's hand again. "It's not just you anymore, or just you and Shiro anymore; you've got a whole team you can rely on. And, if for whatever reason, you feel like you can't talk to them, you can always come to me. No jokes, no teasing, just good 'ole fashioned honesty. Okay?"

Keith nodded, feeling warmth spread through his chest at Lance's words. "Yeah…okay."

"Great," Lance began, tugging Keith along down the hallway. "Now lemme tell you about this _wicked_ plan Pidge came up with…"

Keith listened to Lance's dramatic recreation of one of Pidge's plans as they walked down the hallway to the control room. And even though Shiro wasn't there with him at the moment, with his hand still wrapped within Lance's the universe seemed a little bit brighter than before.

* * *

 **A/N: Yes the title is from Hamilton; I am absolutely Hamiltrash, thank you for noticing. Also like, I feel like Allura would definitely fight Keith on piloting the Black Lion. Or someone would, idk.**


End file.
